Heading north from Birmingham, Dave, Jas and Oliver set off for the mid-Peak District. Upon arriving at Castleton for a 4-hour trip into Peak Cavern, we headed for our base at the TSG. A group of around ten of us were led to the Cave’s impressive entrance; it is the largest cave entrance in the British Isles. After passing through the show cave area open to the public, we descended and followed a watercourse upstream through Five Arches Passage, soon reaching the northern end of Buxton Water Sump.
Progressing beyond, we headed through open passages, waded through water and even had a short crawl on some soft sand deposits! Reaching Mucky Ducks, we navigated under the rock overhang while trying not to get too cold in the deepest pool yet. After descending a ladder to the main streamway, we headed towards the southern point of Buxton Water Sump, followed by a cave photoshoot in a large circular streamway passage! We headed back past the ladder towards Lake Sump.
Returning towards the entrance, the three of us diverted
from the upper gallery through a small inlet, a couple of metres up, into Pickering’s
passage (a 1-metre tube which is around 150 m upstream of Mucky Ducks). A
decent length of crawling, squeezing, climbing and sliding was needed on our
way to Moss Chamber. The most challenging part was the Eyehole, requiring a
squeeze and a wiggle to fit through the constriction and round the following corner.
The tight passages eventually open out into Moss chamber, a beautifully
decorated chamber with vast calcite features.
Returning to the upper gallery and Buxton Water Sump, we had
been instructed earlier to wash the mud from ourselves and equipment using
brushes hanging by the stream, before reaching the show cave again. The
culmination of a hard day’s work was a visit to the fish and chip shop down the
road!
Report: Oliver
Photos: Jas, Oliver and Co
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